11.13.2015

This week Hindus celebrate Diwali. My Indian colleagues
explain it to me as they light diyas or small candles. On the first day
they wear new clothing and shining hair as they fill a banquet table full of Diwali
sweets: Maaladu, Ladoo, Burfi made of coconut, almond and cardamom.

“We celebrate the victory of light over darkness, knowledge
over ignorance, good over evil, and hope over despair."

During the five days of celebration I contemplated the
symbolic timing of Diwali-
the first night coincides with the darkest night of the year.

I have been thinking about this all week as a kind of beautiful, hopeful
defiance. In the darkness they put on their best clothing and light candles –
small acts that some could argue won’t make a difference to the overall status
of mid-winter despair. They recognize the realities of light and dark, good and
evil, and symbolically participate in the gradual return to light, goodness,
hope, wisdom.

Today I awoke to the terrible news of terrorist attacks in
Paris and Beirut. Over 120 dead in Paris, over 40 in Beirut and many more wounded. Borders are tightening up and
people are, understandably, afraid.

And I thought about that phrase “light over darkness,
knowledge over ignorance, good over evil, and hope over despair.”